NHL Game Summary - Nashville at Chicago
(Sunday, January 16th)
Final Score: Chicago 6, Nashville 3
Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Troy Brouwer scored the game-tying goal and the
go-ahead tally just 40 seconds apart from each other in the third period in
Chicago's 6-3 win over Nashville to conclude the home-and-home series.
Dave Bolland also added two goals for the Blackhawks, who avenged the 3-2
shootout loss in the home-and-home set opener and have now won four of their
last five contests. Bryan Bickell tallied a goal and an assist while Jonathan
Toews also lit the lamp in the win.
Marty Turco made 20 saves for the victors.
J.P. Dumont registered two goals and Martin Erat scored for the Predators,
who have dropped two of the last three but have won seven of their last nine.
Anders Lindback surrendered six goals on 34 shots in the losing cause.
Nashville took a 3-2 lead at the 3:45 mark of the final frame, but failed to
find the back of the net the rest of the way out. The goal came off an
offensive zone faceoff win by Chris Mueller. After the quick draw, Dumont
stepped up just inside the left circle and rifled the loose puck past an
unsuspecting Turco.
However, Brouwer's two-goal rally spelled doom for the Predators.
"When they scored that goal in the third we knew that wasn't going to be
enough to stop us," Toews said. "We wanted to repay them for coming back
against us yesterday."
Approaching the midway mark of the final period, Brouwer's first goal knotted
the game up for a third time. During a power play, Duncan Keith's shot was
initially blocked by Lindback's left leg pad, but the rebound was scooped up
by an off- balanced Brouwer, who chipped the puck in.
The second goal was all Brouwer as he carried the puck from the left corner
and circled around to the high slot where he lasered a wrister just inside the
left post.
Two insurance goals then arrived for the home team with 6 1/2 left to play to
preserve the win.
Bickell scored the first with a quick flick of the wrists at the top of the
crease off a centering pass from Brian Campbell.
Toews' unassisted goal made up for the final score and his 100th career goal.
"We stopped playing our game. They came at us pretty hard," Dumont said. "We
have to make sure we learn from it."
The Blackhawks dug themselves in an early hole after Toews was called for
a holding penalty only 16 seconds into the game. With time running out of the
power play, Erat wristed in a big rebound off a Cody Franson shot to take a
1-0 lead.
Just 4 1/2 minutes later, Bickell controlled a bouncing puck near the left
boards and slashed toward the net before he fed a pass through the crease to
Bolland, whose tip-in squared the game away.
On yet another power play, Nashville found the back of the net with 5:45
remaining in the opening period. This time it was a Keith holding call that
gave the Preds the man advantage, and Dumont hammered home a Shea Weber cross-
ice pass to re-gain the edge, 2-1.
Bolland knotted the game once again at two apiece 12 minutes into the second
stanza after Tomas Kopecky intercepted a pass in his own defensive zone and
shoveled it up to Bolland. He then used some suave stick work to weave around
a defender and sweep the puck between the legs of Lindback.
Game Notes
Bolland's goal marks his 100th career point in his 200th career NHL
contest...Mueller recorded his first NHL career point off of Dumont's third
period goal...Kopecky had two assists in the win...Chicago had four
penalties in the first period and ended with six total...Preds defenseman
Francis Bouillon sustained an upper-body injury during the first period after
taking a hard hit from Brouwer and did not return...The Blackhawks are 16-11-0
as the host this season, while the Predators have a 13-11-1 road mark.
01/16 23:58:05 ET
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